Waimea United Church of Christ

Luke 14:25-35“La Guerilla”

There is
the old story of a man coming up to the pastor of his church to ask him if he
would allow a book in the church library that contained such things as
adultery, prostitution, usury, treachery, and innumerable portrayals of open
warfare. The pastor is taken aback and assures his parishioner that no such
book should be found in the church library. The man then clarifies to the
pastor that he was speaking about the Bible itself.

We have to
be honest and not sugarcoat what the Bible reports to us. The story of the
bible is about God’s intervention in humanity. We all know that humans are
messy and warlike. Ever since the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden, we
have remained “fallen” even though we were created by God in God’s Image. That
is in fact the very reason that we struggle to be good Christians. We struggle
against our own human nature to fulfill the hope of being with God in the
heavenly kingdom.

This is the
war within us. My sermon title is a Spanish word that means the “little war.”
It has been used mostly to describe asymmetrical jungle warfare. You have heard
it said that “It is a jungle out there!” Well, it is a jungle inside our hearts
too! The Apostle Paul describes this in Romans 7:21-25, “So I find it to be a
law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight
in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war
with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my
members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Following
Jesus, wanting to be his disciple or student in this world, will be like
starting a whole new life. The old life is left behind, and we are reborn to
Jesus. Galatians 2:19-20, “For through the law, I died to the law, so that I
might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who
live, but it is Christ who lives in me. . . “

Do you
remember seeing those old cartoons of Bugs Bunny when he is trying to decide
what to do to Elmer Fudd. Two little Bugs Bunnies show up on either shoulder
and try to cajole the rabbit. One voice says to do the worst; the other is the
good voice of leniency and self-composure.The angelic and the demonic struggle inside of us. Christ is inside of
us, struggling with the regular us.

What
happens though when La Guerilla inside of our minds does not stay there but
starts leaking out into the lives of others around us? That is when things can
get very rough for a first-time Christian. When Luke is writing this to the
early church, the persecutions against Christians have already started. Yet,
besides the official Roman punishments for being Christian were the more subtle
and subversive acts being carried out in the general population.

For
instance we know that the reason that donations were being collected for the
church in Jerusalem was that in Luke’s time already those who were followers of
the Way of Christ were being denied work, housing, and even the ability to
purchase food. Christians were in all ways an oppressed minority early on.
Being thrown to the lions in the Coliseum was just the final act of aggression
against the early Christians.

Jesus says
that if you are going to follow, you may hate your mother and father, children,
and/or brothers and sisters. What is missing from this explanation is the
simple notion that in those days, when one became a Christian he or she often
found it necessary to forsake blood relatives. Christians were routinely thrown
out of synagogues as apostates to the Jewish Faith. In essence they were
disowned of the community and extended family life that was the backbone of
society then.

This is
still going on in many parts of the world. When we were missionaries in
Thailand, we learned that those who became Christians were told that they could
no longer be Thai. They were giving up their national identity. You see, to be
Thai means that you are subject to the Thai King, who is the head of the
Buddhist faith. If you ask a Thai Christian the question “Who is your King?”
that might get them kicked out of their family. If they say Jesus, that means
they are disloyal to the Thai nation. Thai Christians have to make that huge
sacrifice.

That is the
way it is China and in every Muslim country around the world. Being a disciple
of Jesus is truly as if you are willing to give up your entire life as you know
it to be. Your family may never talk to you again. In Muslim countries the
family may put out a “fatwa” or death sentence against you.

Jesus tells
those he is leading (he stops and turns to those who are following him) to
estimate the cost of this discipleship and be ready in your hearts to pay that
incredible sum in order to follow. Jesus uses the analogy of a man who is going
to build a tower but has not estimated its total cost. Yes, this sounds like
the Honolulu rail system debacle. Everybody knew up front that it was going to
cost a lot more than what was being estimated.

We just
finished a building project here at this church. What if we had actually
believed the contractor’s original bid amount? We would still today have an
unfinished building that would be unusable! Jesus is not going to accept half-finished
faith. What good is to say, “When I die I estimate I will make it maybe half
way to heaven!”? You say something like that, and the rest of the world will
look at you with scorn and ridicule.

So, Jesus
is walking ahead of this crowd of hundreds and turns to ask that critical
question: “Are you really going to follow me all the way?” Or, are you going to
stop when things get rough? How many of those who were following Christ on that
day were in the crowd later yelling for Pilate to crucify him? How many of the
hundreds that were there showed up at the Cross of crucifixion? How many would
end up denying him in the days that followed?

The truth
of this matter is that it is certainly easier NOT to be Christian in this world
today. Let us be honest! Being a Christian is the hardest thing you will ever
do in your life. It takes great courage.

Jesus goes
on in this passage to tell about a king with an army of 10,000 waging war
against another king with an army of 20,000. Are we ready for that kind of a
polemic? What do these numbers remind us of? If you were a Jew in that day, I
think you would have remembered some of the battles that King David fought and
won in the Old Testament. Go reread 1 & 2 Samuel so that you may see once
more how it was that David not only killed the giant Goliath when David was
just a lad but how he again and again with his small band of six hundred loyal
fighters took on thousands of Philistine fighters. One thing to note in this:
David always “inquired of the Lord” before he set out to battle. 1 Samuel 30:8,
“David inquired of the Lord. . . .” The Lord would answer. God would give the
battle over to David.

I want to
assure you this morning that the battle, the spiritual struggle that we find
ourselves in, has already been decided. Jesus has already been through death
and rose again. Whatever victory evil thought it won on the Cross was turned
around on the glorious Day of Resurrection.

Jesus in
our scripture for today in Luke (verse 32) makes it clear to those who would
follow him. If you are not up to this fight, go “ask for terms of peace.” That
is another way of saying you might as well surrender yourself to the world
already. Just give yourself and everything you are and have over to this world.
And, you might well live a long life on this planet. In the end, ashes to ashes
and dust to dust, everything you are and all that you have will be buried with
you.

A couple
weeks ago I got one of those pesky ransom ware e-mails on my computer. I did
not open it by the way. Never do that! The subject line read “Save your life.”
At first I thought it was maybe something religious from another church.
Without opening it, I was able to get to the source code to see that it was
from a non-existent server. The body text read “You are my victim. I have
downloaded malware on your computer. Send $600 US in crypto-currency to the
account below within 24 hours and I will remove the software from your
computer.”

I had to
laugh at this. Really. You know if I had ever sent those crooks anything, you
know they would be back asking then for $6,000. They would not stop until I was
broke. I was thinking that even for $600 one could go get a new computer. Maybe
that is why the would-be crooks chose that amount? Why don’t they just come
into my house and take my computer! They can have it!

Or, even
better, instead of giving everything back over to the world, give it to Jesus!
Give it to God! I DO NOT want to come to terms with this world. It is a false
peace that I make. My peace is in Christ!

The last
line from the Scripture: “None of you can become my disciples unless you give
it all up.” If you have come to terms with this world, fine, just know that
this world will take everything that you have in the end. Give it over to God
today, then the victory belongs to the Lord. You can run from the scammers,
crooks, and evil doers of this world as they slowly take your life from you.
OR, you can give your life over to Jesus and join in the victory already won.
Just remember that it will be the hardest choice you will ever have to make.